WASHINGTON – Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) introduced legislation on Friday that would prevent funding for U.S. boots on the ground in Syria as the fight against the Islamic State in the city of Raqqa is intensifying, including the recent deployment of U.S. Marines and Army Rangers.

TEL AVIV – Following the Knesset’s initial approval of the “muezzin bill,” a piece of legislation prohibiting loud noise at places of worship, a Druze Israeli-Arab came out in support of the bill, saying that mosque muezzin speakers disturbs the Arab and Muslim public as well.

After years on the back burner, the minimum wage is hot again. A national campaign to institute a $15 an hour minimum wage has picked up steam in various parts of the country, while here in Texas, legislation has already been filed that would raise the state’s minimum wage to more than $10 an hour.

Democrat senators today sided with President Barack Obama in the growing conflict between the president and other federal and state officials on how to deal with Syrian refugees in the aftermath of ISIS’s terrorist attacks in Paris.

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed three pieces of legislation attacking the sugar in soda drinks. One proposal from Supervisor Scott Wiener requires billboards, buses, transit shelters, posters and sports stadiums to sport warning labels on soda advertising. Another proposal from Supervisor Malia Cohen bars any advertising for soda on city property. A third proposal from Supervisor Eric Mar prevents the city from spending any money on soda.